


Infatuated Love

by afteriwake



Category: Cabin Pressure, Sherlock (TV)
Genre: Awkward Crush, Crossover, Crossover Pairings, Eventual Relationships, F/M, POV Martin Crieff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-08
Updated: 2015-10-08
Packaged: 2018-04-25 12:22:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,262
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4960480
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/afteriwake/pseuds/afteriwake
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What he feels for Molly is beyond a crush, beyond fancying. It’s much too intense, he’s sure of it...just as he’s almost entirely sure there’s no way she feels the same way. </p><p>Or does she?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Infatuated Love

**Author's Note:**

> So I got a paragraph fic prompt from **zoraarian** on Tumblr with the word " _limerence_ ," which once I looked up the definition of the word on Google and got a more in-depth definition on Wikipedia I decided it needed a full-fledged story and voila! Here it is! I hope all of you enjoy.

  
**LIMERENCE**  
**lim•er•ence**  
ˈlimərəns/  
_**noun;** the state of being infatuated or obsessed with another person, typically experienced involuntarily and characterized by a strong desire for reciprocation of one's feelings but not primarily for a sexual relationship._  


“Oh! Sorry, didn’t mean to run into you.”

Martin looked up and saw a woman with rather kind eyes, which were wide and looking at him. Her mouth was open and she was looking rather embarrassed. But he supposed he should be embarrassed. He was always making mistakes, always mucking things up. “No, no, all my fault,” he said, shaking his head.

“No, really, it was my fault,” she said, and she was giving him a wide smile then. “Let me make it up to you. Do you have a moment? I mean, for a coffee or something?”

He thought for a moment. He had to make his way to the airfield (Carolyn would be quite cross if he was late, and if it was because he was off having coffee with a woman then he was fairly sure Douglas would never let him hear the end of it) but she seemed rather hopeful that he say yes, so he nodded, running a hand through his hair. “Quickly, though. I have to be somewhere soon.”

Her smile got wider, brighter, and then there was a bright gleam in her eye. “Well, I can buy you a cup and then maybe we can chat for a minute and see what happens.” She nodded to a coffee shop down the pavement. “Shall we?”

“All right,” he said, giving her a small grin. This could be interesting, even though interesting things didn’t happen to him very often, and when they did…well, he hoped this turned out better than they usually did.

  
**Component #1:** _Intrusive Thinking and Fantasy_  


He couldn’t get Molly Hooper out of his head.

He managed well enough to get through his day, do his job without crashing the plane (because oh, Carolyn would have skinned him alive and Arthur would never _ever_ let him live it down since it was something they all would have suspected he'd do if he was a pilot and he’d have been grounded for sure, for the rest of his natural life, which Douglas would have loved), but when he let his mind wander she was there. He’d be looking at something on his travels, listening to someone talk or watching a situation unfold and then he’d be thinking about Molly. He’d wonder what it would be like if she was there with him, enjoying the same meal or watching the same film, and for a few moments he’d lose himself in his thoughts.

There were times he spaced and was caught, of course; a few times Douglas had rapped him on the back of the head to bring his attention back to focus or Carolyn had spoken to him sharply. Even Arthur had noticed, commenting on his distraction. But he couldn’t help it. There was something about Molly that…he didn’t know. He liked her. But it was more than that. He _liked_ her, fancied her more than he’d fancied anyone else before. He wasn’t sure what it meant, but so long as she still wanted to stay around him, he was glad for that…even if it did occasionally drive him to distraction.

  
**Component #2:** _Component #2: Fear of Rejection_  


He had tried, a few times, to ask her out on a real, proper date. It wouldn’t be much (since he didn’t have much money and all, though Carolyn tried, and there was never much time and he was always off on one flight or another and she was always busy at the hospital since people always died, unfortunately) but he felt he could make it special. He thought he could make her smile. And he _wanted_ to try, he did, but he was so scared she didn’t care about him the way he cared about her.

He’d ring her up, see about asking her to go to dinner somewhere, to go see a film, but when she’d answer he’d stammer a bit and they’d make a bit of small talk and the invitation would get extended but it’d be _just_ as friends. It was as close as he could get. The idea of him putting himself out there and her turning him down flat terrified him. He wasn’t sure he could put himself through it. If she did reject him, if she did see him as just a friend, then he’d lose it all.

And if there was one thing that terrified him most of all, it was the idea of not having Molly in his life at all.

  
**Component #3:** _Component #3: Hope_  


There were times where he _almost_ thought maybe, possibly, Molly might fancy him almost as much as he fancied her.

She always seemed to be interested in what he had to say, even if it didn’t seem very interesting in general (to be honest, it wasn’t interesting to anyone else who knew him; Carolyn got annoyed, Douglas’s eyes glazed over…sometimes it wasn’t interesting to him). There would be times when he’d catch a glance from her that seemed significant to him. Sometimes she’d tuck a strand of hair behind her ear and look a bit shy. And every once in a while she would reach over to try and touch him, a gentle touch on the arm or her fingers brushing his hand. He found his heart was lighter in those moments, that he almost thought there was a chance.

It was in those moments he thought maybe he should give it a go. Maybe he should attempt to ask her how she really felt about him, if she fancied him as much as he fancied her. Maybe he’d be pleasantly surprised and he’d find that she did. Maybe they could be more than just friends and his life, and hopefully hers, would be better for it. Maybe. He just needed to get the brass ones to _try_.

  
**Mitigation:** _Consummation_  


“So…um…so, Molly.” He ran a finger around the collar of his shirt as he looked over at her as she sat next to him on her sofa. “I…was wondering….um…”

She leaned forward and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, giving him a warm smile. “What is it, Martin?”

It was now or never. If he wanted to know if anything could happen between them, he needed to ask her. He needed to just do it and _know_ , once and for all. “Wouldyougooutonadatewithme?” he asked, getting it all out in one breath, turning red as he asked.

She reached forward for his hand, grasping it in hers. “I would love to,” she said. “Though…I’d rather just been considering all the other times dates, even if we didn’t _call_ them dates.”

He looked at her with surprise. “Really?” he asked.

She nodded. “Yeah. I mean, I had kind of hoped you’d ask but you didn’t and I wasn’t sure so I just assumed, and…” She blushed, giving him a shy smile. “It was probably stupid but, I mean, you _do_ like me like me so it all worked out.”

He grinned back and then moved closer to her. It had worked out after all. This was good. This was better than he could have hoped for, he thought to himself as she settled in next to him and put her head on his shoulder. But maybe, just maybe, this would be exactly what they both needed.


End file.
